He laughed again.
“I’m serious, Leroy. Women recognize these things in other women. That Judith has set her cap for you.”
“Set her cap?” Leroy chuckled.
“You know what I mean. Casting her net, baiting her hook, setting her trap. That woman has set her sights on you.”
“Well, I sort of suspected that myself. It’s probably Gina’s fault. I had a feeling she had something up her sleeve right from the start. And she keeps reminding me of Judith’s fine qualities. I’ll admit the woman is nice enough, and she’s pretty and thoughtful and can carry on a good conversation.”
“Oh?” She sounded interested.
“But she’s not my type, Mom.”
“Your type.” She sighed. “What is your type?”
He didn’t answer as he drove over the private back road that linked the two vineyards. Did he even have a type?
“You mean she’s not like Marcie?” his mom tried.
“Well, that’s for sure. Judith and Marcie are as different as night and day.”
“Certainly, Judith has much more polish and poise than Marcie. But when it came to housekeeping, cooking, cleaning, and child-raising, you have to admit that Marcie was unbeatable.”
He slowly nodded. “No complaints from me.”
“So, I didn’t do so badly, son?”
“What do you mean?” He felt a wave of uneasiness washing over him.
“Oh, you know that I worked hard to set you and Marcie up, Leroy. Her mother was my best friend. We both wanted you two kids to marry.”
“Uh-huh.” He was well aware of that.
“But you might not know that we coached Marcie. That we encouraged her to pursue you. We both thought you needed agood woman. You were so despondent after Dad got sick, having to quit school. And then Dad died.”
“Yeah, we were all pretty sad, Mom.”
“But you were extra sad, Leroy.”
“Oh.” He sighed. “I don’t know.”
“Well, I know. I’m your mother, and I saw it firsthand. I still remember when you came home from that high school church camp your grandma sent you to. You’d been so reluctant to go, but you came home like a new person. So happy and positive and full of life. At first I thought it was a spiritual experience.”
“It was.”
“Yes, but it was something more. I saw the letters you sent to that girl in Oregon, right before you headed off to college. You wrote two letters in one week, and I doubt you’d ever written a letter in your life before that.”
“So?” Leroy stepped a little harder on the gas, more eager than ever to get his mom back to Damico’s. He hoped a deer didn’t jump across the road.
“So, something happened with that girl, didn’t it?”
“Nothinghappened, Mom.” He turned on his high beams. “We just decided to call it a day, that’s all.”
“Youbothdid?”
“Okay. No, she did. Okay? She decided to get back with her old boyfriend. End of story.”
“So you really were interested in her? Were you in love?”
